Rebbetzin Esther Levin - NNN 2021

In 1939, the Mir Yeshiva community uprooted from Mir, Poland on a miraculous journey to Shanghai, China to find a safe haven from the Nazis. As a young child, Rebbetzin Levin participated in this odyssey. Mir’s large Jewish community centered on the Mir Yeshiva, with most of the Jewish population employed by the Yeshiva or providing services for the Yeshiva and its talmidim. Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein, the Rebbetzin’s grandfather, was Mashgiach Ruchani of the Mir Yeshiva in Mir and during the yeshiva’s flight throughout the war. Rabbi Ginsburg, the Rebbetzin’s father, was brought to Mir to study at the Mirrer Yeshiva by Rabbi Mordechai Rogov (who later became Rosh Yeshiva, Beis Medrash L’Torah, HTC after the war). With help from supporters in America, and with transit papers from the Japanese consul in Vilna, Chiun Sugihara, the entire Mir community made its way to Shanghai. Although life in the Shanghai Jewish Ghetto was hard, with little food and much crowding, the Mir Yeshiva functioned as a lifeline for many and provided true inspiration through its shiurim. Rebbetzin Esther Levin grew up in this Torah environment, and if “It takes a village to raise a child,” it is no wonder that Rebetzin Levin grew up to become the committed Jewish educator and role model she is today.